


Boy or Man

by kathiann



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, Romance, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-02
Updated: 2009-04-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathiann/pseuds/kathiann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a sort of post ep to Russet Potatoes. This will be a two shot. First part is Rigsby/Van Pelt. Second part Jisbon, but nothing like the first part. Now part 3 added, will be the last part, has a little bit of Jisbon and Rigsby/Van Pelt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Post ep for Russet Potatoes, kind of. This is probably going to be a double shot. First one is Rigsby and Van Pelt, my take on what may have happened after the kiss. I'll let you guess what the second chapter is going to be about. :)

He didn't know why he was here. It might have been because Jane had called him a coward. It may have been because no one believed that he didn't remember, but really, if he thought about it long enough, it was because he knew that he really wanted to be here. Maybe it was a carry over from being hypnotized, but really it was because he loved her. He knew that it was against the rules, but if no one found out then it wouldn't matter, right?

Whatever the reason, here he was standing on her doorstep, trying to get up the courage to knock. He had just raised his hand to knock, swearing that he wouldn't chicken out this time like he had the previous five times, when she beat him to the punch.

"Rigsby!" She was clearly startled to open her door and find him standing on her front step. "What are you doing here?"

"I, um, wanted to talk to you. Maybe, I mean, if you're going out, I can come back." He was rambling. It wasn't uncommon when he was nervous. She held up her hand to reveal a trash bag.

"Just taking out the trash. Do you want to come in and wait?" She stepped out onto the porch.

"No, let me take it for you. It's dark and there aren't very many lights in the parking lot." He took the bag from her before she could protest and made his way to the dumpster he had seen on the corner of the parking lot when he had come in. Jane wasn't the only one with observational skills—Rigsby just wasn't as good. Her door was still open when he came back and she was standing just inside waiting for him. She held the door open as he came in and gestured towards the kitchen.

"There's soap in the pump container by the sink in the kitchen if you want to wash your hands." Grace said with a smile. He nodded and walked into the kitchen. Peach soap. He should have known. She had smelt pleasantly fruity earlier in the day when they had been at the office. Actually, he noticed it every time he was near her, but he usually didn't dwell on it. It just caused problems that he didn't want to deal with.

He turned around and saw her standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She really was gorgeous tonight. Her hair was down. She usually wore it up at the office and this was a nice change. She didn't even have a head band in. It was just hanging, framing her face. She was dressed in a loose fitting tank top and a pair of cotton lounge pants. He supposed that most men wouldn't think she was particularly attractive at the moment, but he loved it when she looked this way. She was usually so guarded at work and, dressed like this, she looked more relaxed.

"So," she said nervously. It was then that Wayne noticed that he had been staring.

"Um, so, I wanted to talk to you." He reached up and scratched the back of his head—a nervous gesture— "About what happened when I was hypnotized."

The color drained from her face and he knew it was true then. He had done something stupid when he had been under—well, not stupid, but foolish. He hadn't imagined it. "I don't know what you're talking about. I thought you didn't remember anything." She was playing with her necklace, her nervous gesture.

"I don't remember all of it, just bits and pieces. Really, I kind of just guessed at most of it, but the rest of the team all seemed to think that there was something that I should remember. And when I told them I didn't remember anything Jane called me a coward and Lisbon and Cho both accused me of lying to them." He had moved closer while he was talking and was now just a few feet away instead of a few yards.

"It's ok if you don't remember. Jane said it's not uncommon when you're in a trance to not remember anything that happened. You'll probably never remember." She was looking at the floor, the ceiling, the wall just over his shoulder, anywhere but in his face.

"Grace," He was standing even closer than before. "What if I want to remember?" He walked up to her and placed his hand on her arm.

Jane's words earlier that day rang in her ears, Think about what you most want to be doing right now. You can be doing anything you like in the whole world. What are you going to do? Before Rigsby had a chance to do whatever he was planning on she reached up and pulled his head down to hers, pressing her lips to his and kissing him with as much hunger as he had kissed her at the office earlier. The kiss felt hard and soft at the same time and she couldn't help but to smile slightly against his mouth.

"Bring back any memories?" Grace asked, breaking the kiss off and taking a step back.

"Yeah," Wayne's voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "Yeah, it did. Thanks." He was rubbing the back of his head again.

"Do you want to sit down?" She asked, gesturing to the living room where there was an oversized sofa and a TV that he noticed for the first time was on. "We made the news again. I don't think they showed the story yet if you want to watch." He nodded in agreement and followed her into the living room, sitting next to her on the sofa.

"I think the editor for this news station has a thing for Jane." Grace said after a few minutes of awkward silence. "Watch when the story comes on. If there's any video, Jane will be in every frame."

"I bet it's just Jane's ego. He can probably sense when the cameras are on him." Wayne chuckled. He moved a little closer to Grace on the sofa. The news was going on commercial break and the teaser said that the next story was going to be about their case. They didn't really talk during the commercials, just a few mundane comments about the commercials. People must really be desperate for money; they counted three pay day loan commercials, two commercials for personal injury lawyers, and two for used car dealers.

"Here it is." Grace said quietly, nudging Wayne. The watched as the anchor introduced the story, saying that the CBI had caught a killer that was using hypnosis to get other people to kill for her. They thankfully left out the part where Wayne had nearly thrown Jane off a building. What was surprising, though, was the interview that they had promised with a real hypnotist. It wasn't with Dr. Daniel like they thought it was going to be. It was Jane. "How did he do an interview with the news without Lisbon knowing?" Grace asked, shaking her head at the TV. Jane was talking about not being able to do anything under hypnosis that was against your moral character.

"Maybe she knew about it?" Wayne said. The interview was taking place outside of the CBI building. In the background they saw Lisbon coming outside and could tell by the way she was coming towards Jane that she did not know that he was giving the interview. "Or maybe he's going to get yelled at when the cameras are off. I'd hate to be Jane right now. You know, sometimes I think he does things like that just to piss her off."

"I'm sure he does. He likes to get a rise out of her. If she stopped reacting, he would stop breaking so many rules." Grace was still looking at the TV, but she could feel that Wayne was moving closer to her. "In my experience, most men act that way, like small boys, when they are around the person they like." That last comment made him stop in his tracks.

"Jane likes Lisbon? No way." He shook his head in disbelief, chuckling a little.

"Just watch them the next time they're together. You'll see it." She turned to look at him and was surprised to see how close he was to her. Her breath hitched in her chest. "I think she likes him, too." She said barely above a whisper, which was all she could manage in this state.

"Not everyone acts like a little boy when they like someone. Sometimes they just say it. They say things like 'Grace, I think I might love you' and they ask questions like 'Grace, what would you do if I kissed you right now'?"

"What—" She didn't even get the word out before his lips were on hers again. And she realized he was right. Not all guys acted like little boys when they liked someone—sometimes they acted like men.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the second part, a little Jisbon action going on. Nothing really like the first one, so I hope everyone still likes it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and as always to Ebony10 for being the best beta around and putting up with all my fics (I have a serious problem, I'd rather write this and a 10 page paper on the ethics of advertising).

"Jane! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lisbon was mad. She had received a call from Minelli saying that he was watching the news and that a certain consultant that they all knew and loved was doing an interview outside of the CBI headquarters about being a hypnotist. This is not good for the CBI and I don't need to tell you what is going to happen if this comes back to bite us had been his not too veiled threat.

"I was doing an interview. What did it look I was doing?" Jane asked as if oblivious to her anger.

"You can't go around just giving interviews to the news media. We have people who give official statements so that we don't say anything that will cause legal trouble." Lisbon glared at him. "Inside now." She pointed and stomped off towards the building, trusting him to follow.

"I wasn't giving an official statement for the CBI. They wanted to talk to a hypnotist so I agreed. I didn't mention the CBI once in the interview and I made sure that they didn't mention it in the story. I don't see what the problem was."

"You were outside the CBI headquarters. You didn't have to say you worked here. It was implied." They were inside now. Lisbon headed to her office and Jane stood in the hall for a minute. He contemplated just going to his couch, but then decided to follow Lisbon into her office. She had a sofa in there he could lay down on. It wasn't as comfortable, but it would do and it would annoy her more.

He hadn't said anything when he came in, had just laid down on her sofa and put his feet up over the other arm. Her sofa, on top of not being as comfortable, was also shorter than his. She glanced at him when he entered her office, but decided to ignore him until he said what he wanted.

She was working on the paperwork for the case, trying to figure out how to say that Jane had brought Rigsby out of a hypnotic state to tackle a small woman and take away her gun, which then allowed herself (Lisbon) to overpower the other gunman and tackle him to the ground. It sounded ridiculous even to her and she had been there. How was she going to write down that Rigsby had tried to throw Jane off a building because a small crazy woman had told him Jane wanted to go swimming in the ocean? She was almost done when she heard a sound that made her stop.

She listened again for a few minutes and heard it again. It couldn't be what she thought it was. She kept typing, but she heard it again. Jane was snoring. Not loudly. In fact, if everyone else in the office hadn't already gone home, she probably wouldn't have noticed. As quietly as she could, she took her video camera out of her desk. She didn't usually have it with her, but one of her friends on another team had gone on vacation and had asked to borrow it. She hadn't brought it home yet.

She stayed behind her desk, trying to keep her breathing normal so that he wouldn't notice what she was doing if he really wasn't sleeping. She flipped it on and zoomed in. She hoped that the small mike on the camera would pick up the small noises that he was making. As she was recording, he rolled on to his side slightly and breathed out deeply. Lisbon zoomed in on his face. He really was cute when he was sleeping, so peaceful and relaxed.

She sighed finally and closed the camera, slipping it into her bag so as not to forget it. She didn't know if she would ever watch that film. She knew she would never show it to him. He would make too much out of it, tease her about filming it, embarrass her to the point where she would blush and storm off.

She finished her report and saved it. She would print it out in the morning to turn into Minelli. She glanced back over at Jane. He looked like he was still sleeping. She started to spin slightly in her chair. She didn't do it often. She was usually able to control the need to be constantly moving. It had been really bad as a kid, but as she had gotten older she learned that there were easier ways to move without being seen. She spent a lot of time wiggling her toes, especially when she was nervous or preoccupied. But right now she didn't care, Jane was asleep and the office was empty. Rigsby was probably off somewhere making out with Van Pelt. She knew they were going to try to hide it and she wasn't going to say anything as long as they didn't bring it to her attention.

But that was not important right now. What was important was what she was going to do with Jane. He seemed intent on making her life a living hell. It reminded her of being a little girl in elementary school. There was a little boy in her class—his name had been Eddy—and he took pleasure in teasing her, chasing her around the playground. She remembered going home one day from school in tears. Her mother had been there when she got home and had been concerned by seeing her little girl crying. She had told her mother what Eddy had been doing, chasing her around the playground and teasing her about her new hair cut.

She would never forget what her mother had told her. Sweetie, that's just the way little boys act when they like you. When she asked her if they were always like that her mom had just laughed. Oh honey, they never grow out of it. You just have to recognize what's going on and help them along. They don't realize what they are doing.

She didn't think of her mother often. It just brought back memories she would rather forget. She sighed. It was time she went home, but she didn't want to leave Jane just sleeping there in her office. Knowing him, he'd wake up and go through all of her things before she got back in the morning. She didn't have anything to hide. It was just safer not to give him the option.

She was standing up to tell him to go home when his voice startled her. "I'm not sleeping, Lisbon." He kept his eyes closed, but she glared at him anyway. "Go sleep on your own couch, Jane. I'm going home for the night."

"You know," he said, sitting up, "You can ask me about it." He was giving her his knowing smile.

"Ask you about what?" Lisbon asked, stopping in the door way.

"I know you want to know about hypnotism. You've wanted to ask me since the case started if I've ever hypnotized you or tried to hypnotize you. Come on, you know you've wanted to know."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. He was so obnoxious when he was right. "Fine, have you ever tried to hypnotize me?"

Jane just grinned at her, "I said you could ask. I never said I would answer." Lisbon stared at him, open mouthed.

"Errr!" She growled at him. She wanted to hit him, but she knew he would enjoy it too much. "Why do I even bother?" She stormed out of her office, forgetting that she hadn't wanted to leave him in there alone.

"Lisbon!" She heard Jane calling to her, but just kept walking toward the elevator. She pushed the button and waited for it to come up.

"Lisbon, come on, I was just kidding." He stood next to her at the elevator. She wasn't looking at him. "Would you feel better if I let you pinch me?" He grinned at her when she looked over at him. Instead of pinching him on the arm that he offered to her, she punched him on the shoulder.

"Ow! That's not what I said you could do." Jane rubbed his arm where she had punched him.

"You deserved it." She looked at the light above the elevator. What was taking so long?

"Come on, talk to me. I'll really tell you." If she didn't know better she'd think he was pouting, but then he did act like a little boy most of the time.

"Fine. So tell me, have you ever tried to hypnotize me?" She had turned from the elevator to face him. Normally her glare could make a full grown man wither and beg for mercy, but Jane was not a normal man.

"I would never try to do that to you. I think you are much too strong willed for me to be able to hypnotize you without your knowledge and I wouldn't want to. You are much more interesting when you're unpredictable, even if I know what you're going to do half the time anyway."

"Only half the time? I thought you were better than that." She gave him a smirk of her own when she saw his ever present grin slip just a little.

"I try not to pay too close of attention. It tends to make you mad." Lisbon was trying to decide on a comeback when the elevator finally arrived.

"Goodnight, Jane. Go home. Get some sleep or heck! Just stay here and sleep. You usually do anyway." With that she stepped into the elevator and watched him disappear through the closing doors. She hated leaving at night and seeing him last. It made it so much more difficult to get to sleep.

Still in the office, Jane relaxed back on his couch. It had been a long few days. It wasn't every day a friend and colleague tried to throw him off a building. He wished that Lisbon hadn't left. It was much easier to sleep when she was near. He thought about her a lot, more so recently, and didn't like where his thoughts took him. He wished he could take the same advice that he always gave Rigsby. To be a man, but, really, if he had to admit it to himself: he was scared, just like a little boy with his first school yard crush.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I know I said this was going to be a two shoot, but I blame Hollas and Mwalter1 for requesting another chapter. I get additional chapter requests all the time, but this one just wouldn't leave me alone. Sorry if it's over done. I'm pretty sure this will be the last part. I'm serious this time. Thanks to Ebony10 for being my beta, and putting up with my endless writing.

Lisbon was sitting behind her desk. She had come in early after having spent a long night here. She looked down at her bag by her feet. She had brought the video camera home with her, but had never taken it out of the bag. She did now. She looked out the window to see if there was anyone in the bullpen. She flipped open the screen and pushed the play button. She wanted to memorize the way he looked when he was sleeping or at least that's what she was telling herself. Really, she loved they way he had looked, peaceful and at ease with the world. That and there was the snoring, it made her chuckle every time she heard it.

She heard footsteps in the hallway a quickly put her camera back into her bag. She didn't want anyone to know what she had. It would get back to Jane eventually if that happened. It wasn't any one on her team and she felt her apprehension easing. She was tempted to pull the camera out again, but resisted and started working on the performance reviews that had been on her desk for a month now. They were due in less than a week and she really needed to get a move on it.

It was past 9:00 before Lisbon emerged from her office to get a cup of coffee. She walked into the kitchen, seeing Rigsby and Van Pelt standing closer than they probably should have been. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could hear the rumble of Rigsby voice and the lightness of Van Pelt's soft laugh. Lisbon made a point of making loud noises to alert them to her presence. There was no reason to be concerned yet, but she would have to keep an eye on them. The minute it started to interfere with their work—well, she didn't want to think about that yet.

She couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice as she asked Rigsby "Clucked like a chicken lately?" as she poured her coffee.

"NO." Rigsby responded in a fed up tone. "And besides, you heard what Jane said. Anyone could be hypnotized if their guard is down. How was I supposed to know she was going to be able to hypnotize me?" He knew that he was never going to hear the end of this.

Lisbon just shook her head and poured creamer into her coffee. He was going to be as impossible to deal with as Cho was after the "witch" had put that spell on him. He had been impossible for weeks.

"Why are you two so happy this morning?" Cho asked in his usual happy morning voice. "It's too early to be drinking."

"Very funny, Cho." Van Pelt answered him with a roll of her eyes. "I just had a good night, that's all."

Cho stopped dead in his tracks and stared at them. If it had been anyone else but Cho, his jaw would have dropped, but as it was him he just looked at them. "Just keep it in the bedroom and out of the workplace." He said and proceeded to walk over to Lisbon by the coffee machine. "You look unusually chipper this morning, too. You aren't dating anyone now too, are you? Because I don't think I could work with that much sappy love in the room."

"Don't worry. I just had a good laugh this morning, that's all" Lisbon effectively lied. Cho couldn't tell. In reality she had just gotten a good night's sleep—the first time in a while, just by thinking about how peaceful Jane had looked sleeping in her office last night. Not that she would ever admit that she thought about Jane while she was trying to get to sleep. It would seem weird to most people, even to herself, if she wasn't already the one doing it.

"Has anyone seen Jane this morning?" Lisbon asked her team assembled in the kitchen.

"No, he wasn't here when we got here. I mean, when I got here. He's probably going to be late, as usual." Rigsby said. Van Pelt elbowed him in the side for his slip up. Lisbon just shook her head at them.

"Alright, I'm sure he'll find me when he gets here." She said, taking her coffee mug and going back to her office. She was glad that Jane had gone home for the night. He spent too many nights sleeping on that couch. She had finished most of the reviews in the few short hours she had been there this morning. They had been easy. Van Pelt was the easiest. She had done everything in her power to be the best agent she could be and Lisbon couldn't find anything to fault her on. Rigsby and Cho were slightly more difficult than Van Pelt. They would be model agents if it wasn't for their constant need to follow Jane everywhere and do everything he said, even if it was to solve the cases. One day they would be on her side of this desk, and then they would see how much trouble it was.

Jane was another matter entirely. As a consultant, he didn't get the same review process as the rest of the team. He was really more of an independent contractor than an agent. What she had to do was tell the director if it was worth keeping him on as a consultant. She was tempted to say it's not worth it to renew his contract for another year. Let him go be a pain in the ass to another agency. Maybe he could bug the FBI or something. But then she thought of the video she took of him last night. He would never forgive her if she were to recommend that. She cared too much for him to let that happen. Not that she would ever tell him that.

She was sitting there looking at the form she needed to fill out, trying to find a way to put down that he was a pain in the ass that caused more problems than he was worth, but that he was the reason they closed so many cases and that he would fall apart without them. She didn't think Minelli would appreciate her putting "Don't fire him because I think I love him" on the paper. She sighed and rubbed her face. It was almost lunch time and Jane still hadn't come in to bug her. She was trying to figure out if she should see where the team was ordering lunch from or just eat the sandwich she had packed when the knock she had been expecting sounded on her door.

"What do you want, Jane?" She asked without looking up. She knew it was him. No one else would be knocking this time of day—the team knew she would come out if she wanted them to order her lunch.

"Now who's psychic?" He asked, stepping into the room and shutting the door. "I haven't seen you today. How did you sleep?"

This caused Lisbon to look up, "Why do you care? We don't have a case. You should be catching up on your sleep like you always do. I know you don't sleep much at night."

Jane just smiled at her. "I slept just fine last night, thank you. Apparently watching you do paperwork is even more boring than watching paint dry."

"Funny, Jane. What did you really need? I know you don't care about my sleeping patterns." Lisbon then noticed for the first time that he had his hands behind his back.

"I brought you lunch. A turkey, avocado, bacon sandwich on wheat and a chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Well, two cookies, actually. I hope you like it." He held out the plain brown paper bag for her to take. She opened it and looked inside.

"There are two sandwiches in here." She said, pulling them out.

"Ah, yes, one of them is mine. You know how I like a good sandwich." He took it from her and pulled a chair up to the other side of her desk.

They ate in silence for a minute before Lisbon said to him "Thank you Jane. This really is a good sandwich."

Jane finished the bite in his mouth before grinning at her and responding. "I knew you'd like it. It had to be better than the peanut butter and jelly you packed for lunch today."

Lisbon looked down at her bag at her feet. "How did you—"

He laughed. "I was here when you came in. You just didn't see me. I know you always bring a lunch, even if you order out. I didn't see you go into the kitchen when you got here so it must not need refrigeration, which meant it must be peanut butter and jelly. I hope it's raspberry—that's the best."

Lisbon just shook her head and kept eating, watching the light dance around in his eyes and holding back her amusement at his analysis of her eating habits.

"You know Van Pelt and Rigsby are driving Cho crazy out there. Their happiness is ruining his gloominess. It's only going to get worse before it gets better." Jane wanted to see what she would say to them being in a relationship, even if they themselves hadn't admitted it yet.

"Looks like Rigsby finally took your advice to stop pussy footing around and just be a man about it." Lisbon said, not looking up from her sandwich.

"Aren't you going to do anything about it?" Jane asked with a note of amusement in his voice. It wasn't like her to ignore rules and protocol.

"Do about what?" She asked, finally looking up. "As far as I can tell, they are just two colleagues who also happen to be friends. I haven't seen anything in their behavior that would warrant my interference." She looked him straight in the eyes at this point. "Besides, we're alone together more than Rigsby and Van Pelt are and there's nothing going on between us."

Jane was a little nervous at the look she was giving him, but he kept the smile plastered to his face and tried not to let her see him squirm. "Right, nothing going on here." He said. He quickly wrapped up the rest of his sandwich and stood up. "I'm just going to finish this later." He quickly walked to the door and, just as he was about to shut it, could have sworn he heard her say something.

He couldn't be sure, but he was almost certain she had said just one word. "Coward".


End file.
